From the January-March 2009 Issue
New Pastor for Waterford
Andy & Jean Woods
Waterford ChurchWaterford Baptist Church was founded in 1650 and is possibly the oldest Baptist Church on the island of Ireland. (Cork Baptist Church was founded around the same time.) We currently meet at Catherine Street, close to the centre of Waterford city, in a building that dates back to 1910. The present site has been in use for almost a century now. However, the location of the original meeting place is across town.
Though in its fourth century, we cannot claim that the church has gone from strength to strength. In fact, during the twentieth century there were times when it struggled to remain in existence. Yet, through it all, the Lord has been pleased to keep its doors open for public worship.
Those who have known the church over the past half-century will recall the service of our two most recent pastors. Michael Grant was pastor for a quarter of a century. He and Rosemary raised their family of three children in Waterford and Jonathan, the youngest, is now pastor at Carrigaline Baptist Church in Cork. After his time in Waterford, Michael went on to Northern Ireland as EMF Representative. Recently retired, he and Rosemary have returned to the south and are living in a village half-way between family members (Cork) and the scene of their former labours (Waterford). Roy Hamilton served as pastor after Michael. Roy and Jean were blessed with four daughters, the two youngest of whom went to secondary school in Waterford. Roy subsequently accepted an invitation to a church in the Cardiff area and continues to this day in the ministry in South Wales.
For almost six years Waterford Baptist Church has been without a pastor. It was not, however, without the Word of God, and the pulpit was filled by a combination of a few men from the church and visiting preachers. We are grateful to those who took a prayerful and practical interest in the church and we appreciate very much the ongoing interest of EMF. We appreciated those men who gladly travelled from far and near to preach at our Sunday meetings. Indeed, some travelled hundreds of miles to be with us. Among these was David Neald, who is to be officially installed as pastor of Waterford Baptist Church on Saturday, 29th November 2008.
David, originally from the Liverpool area, married Suzanne, an Irish girl. Their five children range in age from fifteen to two. In recent years David worked as a site-manager on building sites in Ireland, but prior to that he was Pastor at Limerick Baptist Church in the mid-west of Ireland. The Neald family are at this point living in Waterford, where the children are settling into school. David has already taken up duties as pastor. His financial support, however, has not yet reached a level which would make full-time ministry viable.
‘Tentmaking’ ministry
In a recent sermon David pointed to Colossians 1:23-25 as his blueprint for ministry. In this passage the apostle Paul describes himself as both a servant of the gospel and a servant of the church. The ministry of making the Word of God fully known was given to Paul for the benefit of the church, for which he laboured even in the face of suffering. David said we could expect from him a pulpit ministry which was Christ-centred both in the Old and New Testaments.
Over the coming months David hopes to make an input into the youth work of our congregation. He has suggested a series of evenings where the young folk in turn would cook a meal for themselves before sitting down to Bible Study. He also hopes to begin a series of study for two teenagers who would like to be baptised. On a more mundane note, he wishes to give attention to some necessary repairs to a not-so-young church building. On the top of his list is a roof that leaks! He has plenty of scope to put his building skills to good use!
Multi-national congregation
Without doubt the church is currently more multi-national in its composition than at any other point in its history. Our regular attendees are from Ireland, England, Wales, Africa, South Africa and Romania. Ethel, our oldest member, is well into her nineties and is now in a nursing home. At the other end of the spectrum we have had four births amongst us this year. This has added a new dimension to our singing and it is a treat to hear little Rachel Anne’s enthusiastic, if off-key, attempts to join with the congregation in making a joyful noise unto the Lord. It is also a joy to see her little feet kick in spontaneous support when her mum, Glenda, plays the clavinova as an accompaniment to the hymns.
At the time of writing we are looking forward to David’s induction service on 29th November, and to meeting friends old and new. Among the new will be Stuart Olyott, who is to preach. David knows Stuart from his days in Belvedere Road Baptist Church, Liverpool. He later had Stuart act as his tutor when he undertook biblical studies.
We thank the Lord that we now have a pastor in place, but we know that we have not arrived at the point of self-sufficiency. On the contrary, as we look to the days ahead, we are cast more in reliance upon the Lord than ever.
’Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy on us.’ (Psalm 123:2)